The sight of empty grandstands shivering as bare, scaffolding sentinels at last week's Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam was a reminder for Formula One of the harsh economic realities facing the sport as a whole.

Financial restraints have also played an important part in racing terms this season, in the number of pay drivers on track and, with all the leading drives now decided, is key to how the final seats will be allocated. While the term pay drive is still bandied about, its meaning is no longer clear. The problem with such terminology is that it conjures up a bygone age.

Niki Lauda took out a bank loan to fund his first drives and went on to win three titles but it is certainly not the great Austrian that comes to mind when the term is used. In recent years, Jean-Denis Délétraz, who stumped up to Larousse in the mid-90s and was six seconds off the pace, would certainly do so. As would Ricardo Rosset, who with Tyrell in 1998 was famous for such a shocker in qualifying at Monaco that Autosport reported his mechanics changed the name on his scooter from "Rosset" to: "tosseR".

The reality now is that the modern generation of drivers would simply not be on the grid were they not of a certain standard. Williams's two drivers bring income to the team. Pastor Maldonado, who won in Spain this year, and Bruno Senna (both are yet to be re-signed) are typical of the new breed meeting demands on the track, according to the team's chief executive, Toto Wolff. "The classic pay driver was one who was clearly underperforming but had a big budget," he said. "There are no drivers who are clearly underperforming. Most have either won championships before, or races, there is no one who is a waste of time.

"You simply can't afford to put a complete loser in the car who is two seconds off the pace because it is going to hit you hard in the long term."

By which he means the commercial long-term. Almost all the teams that are funded through sponsorship have faced new challenges raising money, especially since tobacco advertising was banned. Wolff said: "We are getting more creative in terms of what we are offering to our partners. It's not straightforward – put a sticker on the car and buy 20 paddock club tickets – that's not working anymore."

The search for new income streams has come when drivers rising up the racing ranks have also changed. They are certainly more acquainted with the relationship between money and racing. "The sport has changed in the junior categories," said Wolff. "If you want to do a proper go-kart season you spend about €100,000 to €200,000; Formula Renault is something like €300,000 to €400,000; GP3, €600,000; then there is GP2 which is nearer to €2m than €1.5m. So the drivers that are knocking on the door of F1 have been used to raising money to find partners for sponsorship."

Many drivers, then, are coming to the sport already supplied with backers as an imperative of just getting close to F1. But as attractive as this may be, it is not the deciding factor. If the money is there, teams want to employ the drivers who have that extra two-tenths of pace. Sauber, for example, now just 20 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship, will be hedging their bets on a replacement for Sergio Pérez. If they pass the German squad the extra revenue would ease their need to hire a driver with backing. No wonder they are waiting, for teams in their position these are now crucial financial decisions.

"It would be foolish not to look at the economic background of a driver. Having said that, priority No1 is performance," said Wolff. "I wouldn't like to compromise on performance, because you lose the money at the end by losing partners and losing constructors' money."

Performance then is still key but now the commercial complexities are so blurred, simple catch-all descriptions like pay drives no longer suffice. Santander followed Fernando Alonso to Ferrari for example, he is no pay driver but his value is clear. Then there is McLaren signing Pérez, an "income stream" at Sauber of undoubted raw talent, but who McLaren will now pay a reported £20m for a multi-year deal. Yet it is also hard not to imagine the attractive new sponsorship possibilities and markets that having a non-British driver will offer, nor that, behind the scenes, the team have not already done some deal with the Mexican telecommunications group, Telmex, that were bankrolling him.

It is an emotive issue, fans simply want to see the best drivers. Caterham received a lot of stick when looking to take Vitaly Petrov over Jarno Trulli for 2012, yet when both ran the same car early in the year, their times were nearly identical. Petrov also brought backing, so was the obvious choice and over the season his race-pace has been almost on a par with non pay driver Heikki Kovalainen, while further Russian sponsors have since come onboard. Caterham fans have been placated and it made a good decision for the team, especially in the long-term financial sense. A choice that reflects the modern reality within F1, a reality no longer well-served by the throwaway simplicity of a dated phrase.